Yes singles part 19 – Fly From Here – 342

Produced by Robert Nasir, Jeffrey Crecelius, Wayne Hall, Preston Frazier and Bill Govier

We consider the singles (if any) from Fly From Here this week and talk about this difficult time in the band’s history – a bit. There’s also a Two Pence segment where Mark is disappointed with his latest Pledge Music acquisition…

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Theme music

The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from the following two creative commons sources: thanvannispen and archive.org

6 thoughts on “Yes singles part 19 – Fly From Here – 342”

The MP3 radio edit of the title track from ‘Fly From Here’ was indeed the only single issued from this album. It’s interesting that it was one of the band’s best selling studio sets since ‘Talk’, even though airplay was relatively limited. I put that down to the cohesiveness and quality of the album, the buzz among fans (who form the core audience), and no doubt Trevor Horn’s involvement giving it much more media profile than might otherwise have been forthcoming. The core ‘Fly From Here’ song is undoubtedly ear-friendly… what you might call soft rock with some artistic twists. But it doesn’t easily fit into any of the categories that radio stations look for these days. If one was speculating on what might have been, Steve Howe’s ‘Hour of Need’ is a beautifully compact little song at just over three minutes. A reduction of ‘Into the Storm’ could also have been impactful on the more casual listener, though it remains far better (and too long for a single) at its album length. Incidentally, Benoit David sings beautifully on this album. For me, his renditions work far better than Trevor Horn’s ‘Return Trip’ vocals, though the remixing / additions on some of the album on the re-visit are interesting and I can quite understand the motivation to have ‘Fly From Here’ as a Drama line-up monument. Nevertheless, it should also be seen as testimony to Benoit’s time with the band, which wasn’t always easy but helped hold together what could easily have fallen apart during a difficult period for Yes.

I think the sound design and mixing on Trevor’s version of Fly From Here is superb… and superior to the original. As for the vocals, I can go with either of them… so, maybe now we can get a “Return Trip” version with Benoit singing… somebody out there in YouTube/Garage Band Land can probably help out… ???

Re whether Tony & Geoff played the same keyboard rig on other shows, I can say that in Cincinnati on Monday they did not. Feel free to check out my many photos, from the front row, on my Facebook page. A wonderful show. The band was in great spirits after the gig, as it was a blinder and they knew it. Will see them in Philly again on the 21st.